Sunday, 27 April 2014

My work on the Latigo Posse continues with the latest addition of Papa Loco. He is the oldest men in the family and despite his mental problems (that straitjacket is not here by chance) he still commands respect. This is reflected with his "Hold this" ability, which gives +to damage flips for one turn to a friendly model. It's a very useful boost and sharpshooters like Perdita can greatly benefit from it. Still, using Papa Loco in game is tricky as he is quite unpredictable with triggers that can damage everyone around him and the fact that he blows up when killed.

The miniature is very nicely designed. Partly torn straitjacket, a few randomly attached sticks of dynamite, and a gun he's holding to his temple complete the crazy old geezer look. The details are superb, which always impresses me on plastic minis in this scale. However, some elements are so tiny that getting paint on them was a challenge. I'm talking about his eyes and teeth in particular. I had to use the tip of my 0 Kolinsky brush to get them right.

One more thing - a very interesting KS campaign has recently been started by Games & Gears Ichiban Studios. You can get some excellent brushes there for a reasonable price. Check it out here. The campaign is best summarized by one of the best painters in the business, Les Bursley.

I'm definitely going to back this one. My detail brushes need new replacements and this seems like the best choice in terms of price-quality ratio of the product.

Wednesday, 23 April 2014

I hadn't originally planned to enter a Wyrd painting contest at Wamp but I had so much fun working on this mini that I decided to give it a go. There are some really nicely detailed elements here, his face is particularly well sculpted.

Thursday, 17 April 2014

I'm slowly continueing the work on the Latigo Posse. Here's my latest addition - Perdita (or rather two of them).

I'll start with the "special" one. This limited edition model was a bonus if you placed an order somewhere around Wyrd's birthday. This version is definitel;y smaller than the one from the boxed set. While I like this one a lot, I still prefer the version from the box, which is much more dynamic.

The "normal" version is simply awesome - it perfectly encompasses all the characteristics I associate with Perdita.

Sunday, 6 April 2014

I mentioned in my previous post that I'd been working on a portable gaming table. Today I finally got a chance to put it to use. Here's how it turned out:

I started by ordering a 6mm wooden thick 110x115 cm piece of plywood. Malifaux is played on a 90 x 90 mm terrain but I wanted to have some extra space for ccharacter cards, markers, fate decks etc.

I used an old gaming mat that was in a pretty bad shape. I had to cut it into several pieces and use some static grass to cover the whole surface. Once that was done I outlined the gaming terrain by gluing a thin line of darker static drass along the lines. I like the way it turned out as it's more subtle than simply gluing tape or using a marker.

Overall, I'm really pleased with the final effect. It's portable, the terrain (I didn't make it' ordered the whole set from an online store) looks nice on it and my living room can be easily turned into a neat gaming area.

The game itself was fun too. I wanted to show how Malifaux works to a buddy of mine so we played a quick 20SS game (Francisco, Papa Loco, Santiago and a Pistolero vs the Judge and 3 Death Marshals). The Judge seems much better in M2E and Death Marshals are annoying and it's not easy to take them down. Still, I managed to win. Cards turned against my opponent in a crucial moment. He had a good hand and wanted to use Judge's trigger and launch 2 attacks against a wounded Santiago but he got a Red Joker instead. I survived the attack and retaliated. At that point my opponent drew... Black Joker.

The pic above shows another funny situation when my opponent shot down Papa Loco. At first he was very happy about it but he quickly realized that his DM was within the 3' range and got 5 wounds from the blast.

OK, that will be all for now. I'll probably paint Perdita or Papa Loco next. Right now I'm mostly looking forward to the premiere of new season of Game of Thrones. Last week a plastic replica of the Iron Throne was showcased in a shopping centre in Warsaw and the nerd in me couldn't resist the temptation of having a pic taken ;)

Friday, 4 April 2014

I haven't been writing much lately but that doesn't mean I wasn't active hobby-wise. Been pretty busy at work and finding those extra few minutes to sit down, gather my thoughts and write them down seemed too challenging.
First off, I played my second game of M2E last Saturday. It was a 35ss game against Lynch, HD, 2 Illuminated and 2 Beckoners. I chose 'Dita, Francisco, Santiago, Enslaved Nephilim and 2 Austringers.
The strategy was Turf War and my schemes were vendetta and Assassinate.
The Austringers didn't actually do much but were a constant threat that held the Beckoners back and their 2AP Deliver Orders action once saved Perdita from HD's charge. I think 2 Pistoleros/1 Pistolero+2 hounds might also be a good idea. Francisco is very good around Dita as he can give her extra 2 wp and df every turn as long as she's within 2'. I played more aggressively this time and managed to secure victory at the beginning of turn 4 when 'Dita killed Lynch in 3 sweet shots. She also killed two Illuminated. And yes, she did that in one turn (Trick Shooting is a must for her, can't imagine using this master without this upgrade).

'Dita's harvest

It was a shame I played using unpainted minis so this week I've tried to catch up with my brushwork. I want to finish the whole Latigo Posse crew as soon as possible but at teh same time I want them to look good so I'm not going to be rushing things. I started with Nino, in previous edition he was a killer with his huge range and powerful triggers. In M2E he's still good with some nice new tricks but his survavability is an issue.

I used a Wyrd ghost town themed base insert and added a small cactus from Pegasus hobbies set. I chose to paint his duster in a way that would reflect Nino's function in the Family (a sniper and an agile scout). That's why I added random patches of dirt and kept the colors toned down.

His glasses were really hard to get right. It might be hard to notice that in the picture but they're extremely small and getting to them was a big challenge.

Santiago is a true monster of a man. He's huge and towers over all the other members of his family. He's quite interesting in game as he gets better when he's wounded. He also has a nice trigger that allows him to shoot more than twice in one activation. And he's a member of the Family so companion rule can be used with him as well.

Before I got started on painting I had to add one small change. I cut off the stone his keft foot was on and pinned his right one to the base. I think he looks even better now, more dynamic. I can't take credit for this idea as I saw it first on Wyrd forums. Can't remember the author but kudos to him/her for sharing the idea.

I wanted to use brighter and more vivid colors than I normally do so I made sure that the base shade was of a lighter tone than I typically choose. After that it was just a matter of applying a few highlights and returning to work on the recesses later on.

Santiago is a fantastic miniature and painting him was a lot of fun. I'll be focusing on other models from the Latigo Posse now. Perdita's next and I really like the new plastic version so working on her will be a pleasure.

Apart from miniature work, I've also prepared my first gaming table. I'm going to test it tomorrow when I'll be introducing some friends to the game so I will take pictures then.